DOH raises pig cholera alert

At least 700 kilos of “double dead” pork were seized by health officers at the public market of Pasay City, as the Department of Health (DOH) raised yesterday the alert on hog cholera.

Dr. Yolanda Oliveres, head of the Department of Health’s National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, however, also said there was no need for the public to panic because “there is no evidence that the disease can be transferred to humans.”

The Department of Agriculture (DA), for its part, also assured the public that the rash of hog cholera cases in Bulacan would have no effect on the supply and prices of pork in Metro Manila.

Oliveres called on the public to cook pork properly as a precautionary measure against the viral disease.

“As a general precaution, we urge the public to observe safe handling of food. We must ensure that pork is prepared and cooked properly before it is served,” Oliveres told The STAR.

The 700 kilos of meat seized by a team from the Pasay City Veterinary Office on Thursday night came from Sta. Maria, Bulacan.

The double dead meat, or slaughtered livestock that died from disease yet is passed off as freshly butchered meat, bore signs of the hog cholera virus, according to city veterinarian Dr. Ronaldo Bernasor.

It was pale and was stripped of its skin in an apparent attempt to hide signs that it suffered from the viral disease.

Bernasor said the confiscated meat arrived at the Libertad Market at around 10 p.m.

He identified the meat dealer as Rex Panganiban, who was also arrested last Tuesday for the same offense. Panganiban was previously caught with 300 kilos of double-dead meat, which also came from Sta. Maria. But he was later released by authorities under questionable circumstances.

Panganiban claimed he did not know the pork in the van that he was driving was contraband meat.

Bernasor said the suspect, who initially resisted arrest, was again brought to the Pasay Police Station. Panganiban is facing charges of violating the Consumer Act and the Meat Inspection Code or Republic Act 9296.

Both batches of confiscated meat were burned in a slaughterhouse in Pasay City.

Hog cholera (HC) is a highly contagious viral disease of swine that is characterized by high fever, severe depression, reluctance to eat, multiple superficial and internal hemorrhages.

Cases of hog cholera have been reported at some backyard piggeries in Bulacan, prompting the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to monitor closely the movement of animals in affected farms.

BAI personnel have already gone to these farms to collect samples that will be used for laboratory tests.

Spread and prevention

The government’s chief veterinarian in Central Luzon said yesterday that cases of hog cholera and suspected “pseudo rabies” have already spread to 19 out of 24 towns in Bulacan and 15 out of 21 towns in Pampanga.

Piggeries in the affected areas are now under quarantine.

“But there should be no worry in case of animal to human contamination since swine flu is an ordinary viral infection which, when contracted by humans, can be treated in three days,” regional veterinarian Dr. Romeo Manalili, officer-in-charge of the regulatory division of the Department of Agriculture (DA), told The STAR.

On the other hand, the provincial veterinary office clarified that there is no outbreak of hog cholera and swine flu in Bulacan, but the affected number of livestock is mounting.

Dr. Felipe Bartolome, head of the provincial veterinary office, told The STAR that hogs affected by both diseases have risen to 3,150 yesterday from 2,823 reported on Thursday.

The swine population in the province is a little over one million, Bartolome noted.

He also clarified that “no hog farms are affected yet, but the backyard raisers are.”

Based on a disease monitoring report obtained by The STAR, hog cholera and swine flu were reported in Guiguinto town on May 30.

So far, Guiguinto holds the highest number of affected swine with 853 affected.

Bartolome explained that swine flu and hog cholera are common diseases that can be cured by vaccination.

BAI officer-in-charge Davinio Catbagan clarified that while Bulacan is one of the country’s hog-growing centers and is a major pork supplier of Metro Manila, the outbreak of hog cholera in Bulacan is confined to only a few farms and is already being controlled.

Reports received by Manalili’s regional office in San Fernando, Pampanga indicated that of Bulacan’s 24 towns, only the towns of San Ildefonso, Angat, Doña Remedios Trinidad, Norzagaray, and San Jose del Monte remained without cases of swine ailments.

In Pampanga where there are 21 towns, only the towns of Arayat, Sasmuan, Sta. Ana, Mabalacat and Mexico had no report of infected piggeries as of yesterday.

Most of the cases are of cholera, Manalili noted.

He noted that both hog cholera and pseudo rabies are caused by viruses and show similar symptoms. These include skin itches and bluish or reddish hemorrhages on the skin.

He blamed erratic weather conditions as well as failure of pig raisers to vaccinate their animals for the spread of the ailments. As a result, the animals become more vulnerable to illnesses as a result of abrupt changes in weather, he added.

“The laboratory of the Bureau of Animal Industry has yet to come out with more studies on the suspected cases of pseudo rabies to find out if they are actually swine flu,” Manalili said, adding that swine flu is more contagious than mere pseudo rabies and could spread to other pigs and even to humans.

He stressed, however, that swine flu, both in animals and humans, could readily be treated in about three days just like ordinary flu.

Manalili said that the DA and the Philippine National Police have joined hands to have more mobile checkpoints to guard against the transport of pigs from the affected areas, even as he advised producers to burn swine that have died from the ailments.

According to the DA, hog cholera can be prevented through vaccination.

Catbagan said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has ordered the BAI to look into the status of the hog vaccination program in Bulacan.

Yap has likewise directed the provincial veterinarian to submit a report on the possible causes of the outbreak.

Citing BAI data, Catbagan said that the current disease situation registered a mortality rate of less than five percent in Bulacan where the disease occurred mostly in backyard farms.

The BAI is already conducting a public information campaign on the implementation of biosecurity measures in hog farms nationwide to prevent the spread of the disease.

Catbagan also assured that a hog cholera outbreak would have no effect on the Philippines’ plan to apply before the Office Internationale des Epizooties or Animal Health Organization for a global declaration of the Philippines as a foot-and-mouth-disease (FMD) free country in January next year.

The DA’s application for FMD-free status in January 2008 would allow the OIE to calendar a vote on the application when it holds its general assembly in May 2008, Catbagan said. –with Ding Cervantes, Dino Balabo, Marianne Go